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TRAINING & EQUIPMENT
How to
Develop the
Lower
Abdominals: Part I
How to test lower abdominal
strength and coordination
BY KIM GOSS
D
espite all the cool toys available
to develop the abdominals, the
fact is an athlete can develop
tremendous abdominals without ever
performing a sit-up, crunch or anything
involving all those fancy circus balls and
other gimmicks on the market. Core
training, to use the popular buzzword,
doesn’t have to be complex training.
As evidenced by the muscular midsections of powerlifters and weightlifters, simply performing total-body lifts
such as squats, power cleans and deadlifts can develop impressive abdominals.
The problem is that the lower region of
the abdominals often gets neglected, a
deficiency that may cause increased risk
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of injury, back pain and poor athletic
performance.
To explain what the lower abdominals are, why they are so important and
how to properly train them, I turned to
Canadian strength coach and posturologist Paul Gagné. Gagné has recently
established quite a reputation in the
golf world with his work with a clientele of professional golfers who include
teenage phenomenon Michelle Wie and
2005 US Open Champion Michael
Campbell. Because golf requires excellent posture and abdominal strength,
Gagné’s coaching has become highly
sought after in this sport due to his
expertise in developing exceptional
strength in both the upper and lower
Gymnast Amanda Johanson shows
the type of abdominal development
that comes from training hard and
smart. A member of the Olympus
School of Gymnastics in Sandy, Utah,
Amanda will be attending the University of Denver on a gymnastics
scholarship this fall.
abdominal muscles.
An Ab Is an Ab Is an Ab…
Many exercise authorities and
medical professionals will claim that the
rectus abdominis, the muscle responsible for shaping the envied “six-pack,” is
just one long single muscle that extends
from the top of the sternum and rib
cage to the pubic bone. So, in light of
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FIGURE 1
this skepticism, my first question to
Gagné was “Just what is meant by the
term lower abdominals?”
Gagné replied that while it’s true
the lower abdominals don’t really exist
from an anatomical standpoint, for
training purposes the rectus abdominis
can be divided into two sections: supraumbilical and subumbilical. “Supra
essentially refers to the part of the rectus
abdominis area over the bellybutton,
and sub refers to everything under the
bellybutton.” This separation is illustrated in Figure 1.
Although Gagné admits that the
entire rectus abdominis is activated to
some degree in virtually every exercise, it’s possible to emphasize specific
segments of the muscle, such as by
positioning your body differently. This
effect, says Gagné, is similar to what
happens when bodybuilders attempt to
The rectus abdominis
can be divided into two
sections: supraumbilical and subumbilical.
develop specific areas of
the pectorals by performing bench presses
on an incline or decline.
Gagné says the
subumbilical section
plays an important
function in maintaining
proper posture, and he
explains that the excessive lumbar curvature
displayed by some
gymnasts (Figure 2) may
in part be due to weakness in the lower
abdominals. This unnatural posture
may contribute to lower back pain by
reducing the shock absorbing qualities
of the spine. Further, Gagné says the
problem is compounded if one side of
the subumbilical muscle is underdevel-
oped, causing excessive rotation of the
spine that can increase the risk of disk
injury.
In terms of athletic performance,
when the pelvis is rotated forward due
to muscle imbalance, the lower abdominals are stretched and become difficult
to contract and contribute to sports
performance. Thus, a tennis player with
weak lower abdominal muscles would
not be able to generate as much power
on a serve. “All macro movements in
sports depend on micro movement,”
says Gagné. “All this current emphasis
on movement training for athletes is
fine, provided the segments are strong
enough to properly coordinate.”
Gagné says there is convincing
research to show that an athlete can
increase stride length, and therefore
running speed, with proper development of the lower abdominal muscles.
If weak lower abdominals are causing your pelvis to not rotate properly,
every time you drive your rear leg back
Paul Gagné and
Michelle Wie
Canadian strength coach and posturologist Paul Gagné’s expertise
in abdominal and posture training
has put him in high demand among
professional golfers. Here he is
shown teaching teenage phenomenon
Michelle Wie how to perform the split
jerk.
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TRAINING & EQUIPMENT
Weak lower abdominals often leads to excessive
curvature in the lower back and are common
among gymnasts.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 3
into extension, the catch-up phase is compromised. Weak
lower abs can also change running mechanics. In fact, when
strength coach Charles Poliquin worked with 100-meter
sprinter Donovan Bailey prior to his gold medal performance
in the 1996 Olympics, one primary focus in his training was
the lower abdominals.
How do you know if you have weak lower abdominals?
One test is to lie on your back with your knees bent at 90
degrees (as shown in Figure 3). Place your hands just above
the hipbone, lift your elbows off the floor and rest your head
on the ground. Now try to lift your hips straight up. If you
can’t perform this test without moving your knees towards
your head, or if you have to brace your elbows on the floor
or raise your head to perform the movement, then you have
weak lower abdominals. “This lower abdominal raise is just
about the only one you could say is purely subumbilical,”
says Gagné.
FIGURE 4
The seated pike is a good test to determine abdominal
coordination.
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A test to determine lower abdominal strength.
One practical test of abdominal coordination, which is
how your lower and upper abdominal muscles work together, is to perform a seated pike (Figure 4). With your legs
extended in front of you, feet together, lift your hips and feet
off the ground. Hold for one minute. If you don’t have good
coordination between your upper and lower abdominals, you
will not be able to maintain
a rigid position – you may
hold one leg higher than the
other, shift to one side or
simply collapse before the
minute is up.
In Part II of this
series Paul Gagné will
explain several specific
exercises designed to place
maximum emphasis on
the lower abdominals
– simple exercises, but still
extremely effective. Until
The illustration for this
article was taken from
then, try the two abdominal
Strength Training Anatomy
tests described in this article
2nd ed., available from
and see if you are strong to
Human Kinetics, www.
humankinetics.com
the core.
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